Like A Brother
by Bottlebrush
Summary: Twelve-year-old Sirius and Remus talk about brothers.


Like A Brother

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter world and its characters; J. K. Rowling does.

Summary: Twelve-year-old Sirius and Remus talk about brothers.

Remus Lupin was sitting on a trunk in the window of his dormitory in Gryffindor Tower, reading. It had been nice of Madam Pomfrey to let him leave the hospital wing early; he much preferred being home in his dormitory, even though he was still aching all over. It would be nearly four weeks before he would have to suffer another transformation, and four weeks is a long time when you're twelve.

The book he was reading had come from the library and was about Ancient Runes. He wasn't due to start learning that subject until third year, but it looked really fascinating and he was looking forward to studying it properly. He was so absorbed in the book that he didn't hear the door open and someone come in, until Sirius Black sat on the trunk beside him.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Shouldn't you be in Herbology?"

"I was in Herbology, until I sliced the tip off one finger doing grafts, and Professor Green sent me to Madam Pomfrey to have it stuck back on."

Remus picked up both Sirius's hands and began examining them frantically.

"You what? Where – which finger – is it – "

Sirius laughed. "I didn't really cut my finger off," he explained, "I just made it look as though I had, so I could get off class early and come to see if you were all right. Are you all right?"

"Of course I am. Pomfrey wouldn't have let me leave the hospital wing if I wasn't."

Sirius put an arm around Remus's shoulders. "No you're not," he said. "You're in pain. I can tell. You're all tense."

"Just my bones aching. It's nothing, it'll pass."

"And what's this?" Sirius gently pushed Remus's sleeve up to reveal the red mark of a newly-healed wound.

"Bite," said Remus very quietly.

"And you didn't tell me?" said Sirius, touching it softly.

"Would you go around telling people you bite yourself?"

"I'm not 'people', I'm your friend. I know you weren't yourself when you did that."

"Exactly. How many people do you know who go completely out of their mind every full moon? Anyway I don't want to talk about that. I'd much rather talk about the trouble you're going to be in when Green checks up on you with Pomfrey."

"He won't. Dozy old bloke, the only thing he's checking up on is his retirement date. He can't wait to shake the Hogwarts greenhouse soil off his boots. And so what if he does check, trouble is one of my favourite things. That reminds me, would you like to see one of my least favourite things?"

Sirius went over to his locker and brought a photograph, which he handed to Remus. "That arrived by owl this morning," he said.

The photograph showed a small boy in miniature wizard's robes of dark red. It made a horrible grimace and stuck its tongue out.

"That is my obnoxious little brat of a brother," Sirius said.

"Didn't know you had a brother."

"I don't talk about him much. I'm not proud of him. He's a little horror. Thank goodness it'll be a few years before he comes here. He's seven, it was his birthday yesterday. No doubt that's why my mother sent me the picture, by way of letting me join in the celebrations. Both the parents dote on him. He's a real Black, swallowed whole all that pureblood superiority rubbish. Already he hates Muggles, Muggleborn wizards, giants, goblins …"

"Werewolves," said Remus.

Sirius said nothing.

"He's only young," said Remus. "You can teach him better. When he comes to Hogwarts he'll be away from your parents, so he'll listen to you then."

"I doubt it. You don't know him. I hate the little wretch."

"You shouldn't hate your brother. My brother hates me, but ……"

"What? How can anyone hate _you_?"

"He has good reasons. He's a lot older than me, eight years, and he's a squib. My mother told me. She and my father loved him all the same and he was happy until I turned up, showing off magic before I could talk. Of course he was jealous. Then I got bitten, and my parents spent loads of money looking for the cure that doesn't exist, so Julius had to go without a lot of things he ought to have had. He left home as soon as he could and now he works in a Muggle bank. He's doing very well, they say, he's going to be a manager some day. But he still hates me. He said I should …… I shouldn't be alive."

"But that's horrible. He's even worse than mine. Brothers, eh. Who needs them?"

"You and James are like brothers."

"Yes we are. We made ourselves brothers. Look, I'll show you."

Sirius held his forearm up to Remus's face. "We cut ourselves here, and made the cuts bleed, and pressed them together to mix the blood. So I've got some of his blood in me, and he's got some of mine. That makes us brothers for ever."

"It does?" Remus sounded doubtful.

"Yes, it's a thing Muggles do. I read about it in a Muggle book. I could do it with you, if you like."

"NO!" Remus said loudly, getting up and walking away from the window.

"Okay, if you don't want to," said Sirius, startled. "But it doesn't hurt much, not if the knife's good and sharp."

Remus spoke very quietly, with his back to Sirius. "It's not that. It's …… I don't know if my blood might be …… it might …… make you the same as me." His voice was barely audible.

"I shouldn't think so," said Sirius airily. "Anyway, I'll risk it."

"I won't," said Remus, turning to face him. "How do you think I could live with it, if that happened to you because of me?"

Neither of them spoke for a while, then Sirius said "All right, just come and give me a hug. I daresay that will do as well."

Remus smiled and embraced him like a brother. They held each other close for a few moments, each feeling the warmth of the other thin child's body against his own.

"Now we're like brothers," Sirius said.

"Yes," said Remus, smiling again. "Brothers."


End file.
